Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Euphrasia collina
Common name
Eyebright, Snow Eyebright (subsp. glacialis), Variable Eyebright, Purple Eyebright (subsp. diversicolor), Feldmark Eyebright (subsp. lapidosa), Purple Eyebright (subsp. speciosa)
Family
Orobanchaceae
Where found
subsp. collina: Dry forest, woodland, heath, and swamps. Coastal south of Eden. Rarely elsewhere.
subsp. diversicolor: Woodland, heath, alpine herbfields, and drier sites in grassland. Kosciuszko National Park to ACT.
subsp. glacialis: Wet areas and depressions in alpine grassland and herbfields. Kosciuszko National Park.
subsp. lapidosa: Very low shrubland in alpine feldmark on windswept ridges between the Kosciusko area to Charlotte Pass and Geehi.
subsp. paludosa: Forest, woodland, heath, herbfields, and grassland. Sometimes in grassy areas in bogs and swamps. Kosciuszko National Park to ACT. Ranges and the eastern edge of the tablelands north from the Blue Mountains.
subsp. speciosa: Forest, woodland, and swampy areas. North of Batemans Bay: coast, ranges, and tablelands. ACT.
Notes
Perennial herb or shrub to 0.80 m high, sometimes sprawling. Stems hairy to hairless, sometimes sticky. Leaves opposite or almost opposite each other, sometimes crowded, 0.45-2.5 cm long, 2–10 mm wide, lower surface covered with stalkless glands, margins with 1–6 pairs of teeth. Flowers tubular, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2 lobed, the lower lip 3 lobed. Flowers 9–20 mm long, white to purple, mauve, blue or pink, sometimes with a yellow blotch in the throat, lacking conspicuous purple striations. Outer surface of the calyx hairless or sticky hairy. Flower clusters of variable size. Flowering: most of the year.
Family was Scrophulariaceae.
subsp. collina: Shrub or perennial herb to 0.8 m high. Stems hairy with 2 or 4 longitudinal lines of simple hairs, or sometimes hairless. Leaves 0.45–1.65 cm long; uppermost leaves usually 2.0–4.2 mm wide, usually with only 1 pair of teeth. Flowers 7.5–13.5 mm long, white or mauve, pink, purple or blue with a white tube, throat or extremities often with a yellow spot behind the lowest lobe. Lower lobes usually notched to squared off, rarely blunt. Outer surface of the calyx sticky hairy. Flowers Aug-Feb.
subsp. diversicolor: Perennial herb to 0.45 m high. Stems sticky hairy or hairy. Leaves 0.5–1.7 cm long; uppermost leaves usually 3.4–7 mm wide, with 1–9 pairs of teeth. Flowers 9–13.5 mm long, white, pink, mauve, or pale to dark blue to purple or violet, sometimes a with white area behind the lower lobes, a yellow blotch often present in the throat. Lower lobes usually blunt to squared off, sometimes notched. Outer surface of the calyx sticky hairy. Flowers single in the axils of leafy bracts, in short dense clusters. Larger than subps. glacialis and on drier sites. Flowers Jan–Feb.
Vulnerable Vic.
subsp. glacialis: Perennial herb about to 0.3 m high, usually with short non-flowering shoots at the base. Stems almost hairless or with inconspicuous lines of hairs, sticky towards the tops of the stems. Leaves mostly opposite each other, those on non-flowering stems and towards the base of flowering stems crowded, 0.5–1.2 cm long, 5–10 mm wide, margins with 2–5 pairs of teeth. Flowers 11–16 mm long, 10-20 mm wide, the tube white with a yellow blotch in the throat, lobes white or purplish to pink. Buds and young flowers sometimes faintly tinged with pale violet on the outside. Anthers 1.4–2.6 mm long. Outer surface of the calyx sticky hairy. Flowers single in the axils of leafy bracts, in short dense clusters. Smaller than subps. diversicolor and on wetter sites. Flowers Dec–Mar.
subsp. lapidosa: Perennial herb to 0.15 m high, often sprawling. Stems sticky hairy. Leaves crowded, 0.65–1.05 cm long, 4.5–7 mm wide, with usually 2 or 3 pairs of teeth. Flowers 7.5–13 mm long, lilac to mauve-pink, the tube white with a yellow blotch in the throat. Outer surface of the calyx sticky hairy. Flowers Dec–Feb.
subsp. paludosa: Perennial herb to 0.56 m high. Base of the plant usually hairy with simple hairs, rarely glandular. Leaves 0.5-2.5 cm long, 5-9 mm wide, with 1–6 pairs of teeth. Flowers 10-20 mm long. Tube pale, pale purple or bluish purple, often with a conspicuous yellow patch in the throat, lobes white, pink, mauve, bluish-purple, or pinkish-purple. Lower lobes usually blunt to squared off, sometimes notched. Outer surface of the calyx hairless or sticky to sticky hairy. Flowers Aug.–Mar.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
subsp. speciosa: Perennial herb to 0.5 m high. Stems hairy with 2 or 4 longitudinal lines of simple hairs, with glandular hairs between the longitudinal lines. Leaves 0.48–1.7 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, with 2–8 pairs of teeth. Flowers 11–18 mm long, bluish to purple or violet, throat and tube without a yellow blotch. Lower lobes usually blunt to squared off, sometimes notched. Anthers 1.3–2.2 mm long. Outer surface of the calyx sticky hairy. Flowers Aug–Dec.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Presumed extinct Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Euphrasia~collina (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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